4 Jaw Chuck And Steel Plate

abrace

abrace

Registered
Registered
Joined
Dec 25, 2015
Messages
214
All,

I need to bore some holes in a steel plate. I don't have a mill. I only have a G4003G. I can fit the plate in my 4 jaw chuck, but with only TWO jaws grabbing the plate (it is a rectangle) and be able to bore the holes where I need to. It seems to spin up fine and is in there pretty solid. Am I risking my safety doing this or is this a standard thing to do? I am new to using a lathe.

---Aaron
 
If the setup is solid you should be OK. Don't get in a hurry and watch what is going on, be ready to hit STOP. Just keep your nose back away from the spinny things.;)
 
Will it fit between the jaws diagonally?
I do that quite often to get a large chunk faced.
 
savarin said:
Will it fit between the jaws diagonally?
I do that quite often to get a large chunk faced.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I am not sure. I have enough problems figuring out what I want to do with the lathe without diagonal lines getting involved :)

The problem is that I need to bore a hole near the top, and to do that I need the top at the center of the chuck, obviously, which makes the bottom hang down below where the jaws even come close to grabbing it.

It has a great hold from the side. Great until I start boring that is and putting pressure on it, but I won't know until I try. I won't have a chance to do this until this weekend, but I did confirm the plate fits and seems to be held reasonably well from the 2 jaws on the side. I spun it up, and it seems OK, but I didn't put any tools to it at all.

I was figuring I would run on the lowest speed, 70RPM.

Yes, I did tell my wife I need a mill. She told me to figure out the lathe first then we would talk....at least she agreed to talk about it! :)
 
Have you got a face plate? It may be easier to accomplish your task with it. You stated that you have multiple holes to bore. If you drill pilot holes first, you can run a bolt through with a nut and washer on the backside. You can also make up a clamping system using a bar with a bolt through bridging from your workpiece to a block. My preference is to have at least three clamping points.
 
How big a hole? Are location and dimensions critical? Photos would help.

When in doubt don't. Take heed of RJ's post.
 
It is difficult to answer without knowing the dimensions of the plate and the hole to be drilled.

Another approach might be to secure it to an angle plate on the cross slide and hold the drill in a collet in the head stock.
 
It is 16 gauge steel plate. Dimensions of the plate are about 4" x 6".

Hole that I need to bore is about 2" in diameter. I also need to drill 2 holes in different places about 1/2" in diameter.

The 2" hole will be for a hobbs meter. This will end up being fabricated into a control box for my air compressor. This piece of plate will end up being the door.

---Aaron
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top